European Union Commissioner for the Digital Economy Günther Oettinger sat down with The Wall Street Journal Monday to set out his priorities for the coming years. As part of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s plans to create a true single market across Europe, he set out proposals to “Europeanize our digital policy,” including cross-border commitment to broadband investment, a European data-protection regulation, and European strategies for data security.

Live Twitter chats by European commissioners are a recent invention. Neelie Kroes famously used a cheeky question on the #AskNeelie hashtag to give the cheeky answer “Would u believe if I say Chanel number 5 and nothing else?”

Her successors have followed suit – with the format, not the risqué one-liners – and Andrus Ansip, vice-president for the digital single market, recently hopped onto Twitter and shared his thoughts about copyright reform and net neutrality, tweeting that “I am against any form of geoblocking or slowing down Internet speeds.”

Wednesday saw Günther Oettinger, new digital economy commissioner, take to Twitter (sort of) to tell us about net neutrality, copyright reform and his favorite apps. Read More »

Every single day! Imagine. But Mr. Oettinger’s digital skills go beyond just doing emails. As he told a network of German regional newspapers including the Passauer Neue Presse, “Sometimes I even put my own appointments into the calendar using my iPhone.”

The legislation proposed by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding back at the start of 2012 made it through the European Parliament back in April, so once the ministers get their views together, the three-way discussion between commission, parliament and member states – known as a trilogue — can get under way. Read More »

His main approach was to dodge anything interesting, mention infrastructure a lot – possibly a hangover from his previous job as energy commissioner – and hint that tough(er) times are ahead for Google Inc. The rules of the commission state that what goes in the College of Commissioners — where the 28 commissioners meet and decide things — stays in college, but Mr. Oettinger broke ranks to say he’d been the lone voice in spring pushing for tougher terms on Google in its competition case over search-engine practices. Read More »

Brussels-watchers should brace themselves for an interesting week in the European Union. Their main attention will be on the European Parliament, where lawmakers will spend the next few days grilling the fresh crop of nominees to head the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. In case you need to refresh your memory on who these new faces are – and what they look like - check out our awesome graphic. (For more details on their personal finances you can read here.)

Most hearings should go smoothly, letting would-be commissioners get out unscathed. Some of the more controversial nominees, however, will be in for a rough ride, as MEPs prepare to question their suitability to handle their assigned portfolios, or even the job altogether. Expect scorn, boos and jeers (and maybe even tears?) One or two hopefuls will probably not survive the process. Read More »

A plan to rejigger the top jobs in the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, could weaken its powerful antitrust czar and blur the lines between competition policy and industrial policy, antitrust experts said.

The changes, announced this week by the commission’s president- designate Jean-Claude Juncker, come at a crucial time. The EU is currently considering where to take long-running antitrust cases against Google Inc.—where a hard-fought deal is back on the drawing board—and OAO Gazprom. Read More »

Google Inc. isn’t having a good summer. Just as vacationers are catching the rays, European storm clouds are gathering over the Internet search giant.

Late last month, the European Union’s antitrust chief, Joaquín Almunia, signaled he was likely to revise a proposed deal with Google over its search practices, in response to unprecedented criticism from both companies and politicians. Read More »

About Real Time Brussels

The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels blog is produced by the Brussels bureau of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The bureau has been headed since 2009 by Stephen Fidler, who was previously a correspondent and editor for the Financial Times and Reuters. Also posting regularly: Matthew Dalton, Viktoria Dendrinou, Tom Fairless, Naftali Bendavid, Laurence Norman, Gabriele Steinhauser and Valentina Pop.